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^ //r-r^ /fZ4e^^^c^ ^^^ ^-^'f-^C'VC- /V^tr-i^ ^?i-^'»- /-^ ^ /4^ ^^ w ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/historicalnoteso1843tytl ; HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE LENNOX OR DARNLEY JEWEL THE PROPERTY or THE QUEEN. MDCCCXLIII. : LONDON WILLIAM NICOL, SHAKSPEARE PRESS, PALL MALL. The following Notes illustrative of the Lennox or Darnley Jewel written by Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq., in obedience to the order of the Queen, are printed by Her Majesty's Command. ; NOTES ON THE LENNOX OR DARNLEY JEWEL.' It is to be regretted that Horace Walpole has said so Uttle upon this ancient and beautiful Jewel. He does not tell us how or where he became possessed of it he gives no explanation of its emblems, or mottos, he simply says it was made by order of Margaret Douglas Countess of Lennox, in memory of her husband, the Regent Lennox, and a manuscript note discovered at Strawberry Hill, but which is certainly not in the hand- 1 In conformity with common usage I write the word Darnley. Lord Henry Darnley himself spelt his name Dernley. Sir H. EUis's Original Letters, Vol. IL 2d Series, p. 249. Lord Darnley to Mary Queen of England, 28 March, 1554. — writing of Walpole, is equally unsatisfactory in throwing : any light upon its true history and meaning ' and yet even a superficial examination must convince us that its numerous emblems and mottos have an individual application, that the Jewel was intended to tell its owm story clearly to its maker, and to the person for whom it was made, though darkly to others, and that if we should be so fortunate as to discover its true key we shall unlock its enigmas — if we can lay hold of the right clue, it will lead us through the labjTinth of its com- plicated devices, till we detect the heart of its mystery. The Jewel is a golden Heart, around which there is this verse in the old Scottish language ; ' This note translates the Scottish Mottos, but does not profess to show their individual apphcation. Lord Orford, Works, vol. 2d. p. 477, thus describes the Jewel. " A golden heart, set with jewels, and ornamented with emblematic " figures enameU'd, and Scottish Mottos, made by order of the Lady " Margaret Douglas mother of Henry Lord Damley in memory of " her husband Mathew Stewart Earl of Lennox and Regent of Scot- " land, murdered by the Papists." QVHA HOPIS . STIL . CONSTANLY . VITH . PATIENCE SAL OSTEIN VICTORIE IN YAIR PRETENCE. That is, translated into English, WHO HOPES STILL CONSTANTLY WITH PATIENCE SHALL OBTAIN VICTORY IN THEIR CLAIM. The old Scottish word, pretence for claim is of French derivation, and even in English we still in the present day use pretensions for claims.' On the outer face of the heart is a Crown, sur- mounted with three Fleurs de Lys upon an azure shield, and studded with three small rubies, and an emerald ; beneath it, a Heart entirely composed of a large sapphire, and furnished with wings whose feathers are enamelled in sapphire, ruby, emerald, and gold : these emblems are supported by four allego- rical figures. Faith with the Cross and the Lamb, Hope with the Anchor, Victory with the Olive branch, and Truth with the Mirror. This jewelled Crown ' Thus Johnson in his Dictionary under the word Pretension, defines its meaning " any claim true or false." — opens, and within is a device —Two Hearts, united by a blue Buckle, and a golden true love Knot, pierced with two arrows, feathered with white enamel, and barbed with gold, and above them the Motto ; — QUAT VE RESOLV. That is, WHAT WE RESOLVE. Below these hearts are the letters M S L, in a cipher, with a verdant Crown of leaves above them. The winged Heart also opens, and within is this de- vice : two Hands clasped together, holding by' a ruby fillet, a green hunting Horn, below them a Death's head with Cross bones, and roimd them this verse, rhyming to the former ; — DEATHE SAL DESOLVE. That is, DEATH SHALL DISSOLVE. Such are the emblems and mottos on the front of the Heart ; but turning to the reverse of this beautiful relic of old times, we find it covered with devices, and partly encircled with this Scottish verse ; MY STAIT TO YIR' I MAY COMPAER FOR ZOW QVHA^ IS OF BONTES RAIR. That is, MY STATE TO THESE I MAY COMPARE, FOR YOU WHO ARE OF RARE GOODNESS, literally goodnesses, an old Scottish word from the French " bonte." The emblems on this reverse are, the Sun in his glory, amid the azure clouds, studded with stars, and in the opposite comer the crescent Moon, vd\h the profile of a man's face within it. Below the Sun, is a Salamander in the fire, with a Crowm on its head, and under the Salamander, a Pelican striking its breast, and feeding its little ones with its blood ; beneath the Moon is the Arabian Phoenix in the flames, and under it in the lower corner of the heart is a complicated emblem— the figure of a man lying on the grass, with something bearing the resemblance of a royal Crown in ' Yir, Thir, Scottish for these. See Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language. ^ Wha or quha, Scottish for who. Jamieson. — 6 his side, so small as to be clearly seen only with a magnifying glass, out of which Crown there grows a Sun flower ; behind him is a laurel tree, on the branches of which sits a gaudy little bird, and in the leaves of the Sun flower there is a little lizard. These however are not yet all the emblems, for the Heart opens and discovers a third series engraved and enamelled on the inside. First, a Stake, such as is represented in the pictures of the Martyrs, surrounded with flames, and in the flames a number of little crosses. Near it is a Lady seated on a royal chair with a tiara on her head, and above her a scroll with this sentence; gar' TEL MY RELEAS. That is, CAUSE TELL MY RELEASE. We have next a complicated emblem, or rather group of emblems. It consists of a figure with two faces, and two bodies, the upper part e^'idently re- presenting Time with his forelock, his wings, and his Gar. Old Scots, Cause. See Jamieson's Dictionary. — sand glass : on the back of his head he bears another face, or mask, and the lower portion of his figure which is separated from the upper by a marked line, is that of a Demon with cloven feet standing on a celes- tial Sphere : on one side, Time is puUing a naked female figure, evidently meant for Truth, out of a well, on the other side immediately opposite Truth, is a hi- deous representation of two black jaws vomiting out flames and little demons, and above Time is a scroll — with this legend in Scots ; TYM GARES AL LEIR.' That is, TIME CAUSES ALL TO LEARN. Below Time and immediately above the sphere is this legend; ZE^ SEI^ AL MY PLESUR. That is, YOU SEEM ALL MY PLEASURE. ' Leir, learn, old Scots and used also in old English, see Nares's Glossary, and Jamieson's Dictionary. Ze, Scots, for ye, you. 8 Lastly in the lower part of the heart, are two groups — one of a Soldier or wan'ior who has thrown down another Warrior, whom he seems about to put to death, whilst the fallen man points to a little device in the shape of a red Shield surmounted by a crown or co- ronet, with a face engraved in the shield : the other group is that of a cro'RTied Warrior with his sword draMTi, holding a Lady by the hair of the head. To neither of these groups is there attached any legend. It will be seen from this description, that the Jewel contains three distinct divisions —the front, the reverse, and the interior, in which there are no less than twenty- eight emblems and six verses or mottos. It is in short a little biography in hieroglyphics, divided into three chapters, and in attempting to read it, the best way will be to begin by separating its more certain from its less certain sigTis : thus, we have the initial letters M. S. L. — the Salamander crowned — the winged Heart—the two little hearts joined by a blue buckle —the jewelled Cro'vvTi, surmounted hj three Fleurs de Lys upon an azure shield, and placed over the winged heart, and lastly the shape of the ornament itself, which is in the form of a heart. All these may be called certain signs, and it is remarkable that they ah point to the truth of the tra- dition, that this Jewel was made for Margaret Douglas Countess of Lennox in memoiy of her husband, the Regent Lennox. He, by maternal descent, was of the royal blood of Scotland, his mother being the Lady Anne Stewart, a daughter of John Earl of Athol, brother of James the Second.' She was of the royal blood of England, her mother being the Lady Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VH., and nddow of James IV. of Scotland: Her father was Archibald Douglas, sixth Earl of Angus, one of the most potent and ambitious of the Scottish nobles of his day, and she was bom in England on the 18th of October, 1516.' She was thus, it will be seen. ' Douglas' Peerage, Wood's Edition, Vol. II. p. 97. ^ Thomas Lord Dacre and Dr. Magnus to King Henry VIII., 18th October, 1516. MS. letter in the British Museum. Caligula B. VI. fol. 110. Printed by EUis, Vol. I. 2nd Series, p. 265. 10 cousin german of Queen Elizabeth and niece of Henry A^III., who in July 1543, gave her in marriage to the Earl of Lennox, the leader of the Anglo-Scottish party, which favoured Henry's project, for a marriage be- tween Maiy the infant Queen of Scots, and his son Edward Prince of Wales : Now looking to the jewel, the letters, M. S. L. are the initial letters of the names of the Countess of Lennox and her husband : Mathew Stewart Lennox and Margaret Stewart Lennox—the Salamander is the Crest of the house of Douglas, its being crowned, expresses the royal descent of Lady Margaret Lennox, the three Fleurs de lys on an azure field, are the arms borne in the first quarter by Ma- thew Stewart Earl of Lennox—being the royal arms of France granted to his ancestor Sir Jolm Stewart of Demley by Charles VH. of France in token of his great military services to that Cro\\ii.' The heart, is also most emphatic, for it is the well kno^vn emblem of the house of Douglas, the proudest feature in their Douglas' Peerage of Scotland, Wood's Edition, Vol. II. p. 92. 11 shield, as indicating the Commission given by King Robert Bruce on his death bed to the good Sir James Douglas, enjoining him to carry the heart of his royal master to Jerusalem.' Tlie M'ings represent not in- elegantly, the soaring ambitious character of that house; and lastly the two little hearts within the Crown joined together, not only by a true love Knot (which might do for any two hearts in general) but by a blue buckle, point distinctly to Lennox and Douglas for both these ancient houses bear buckles in their arms.^ All these coincidences could hardly be accidental, and encourage us to proceed to the Motto round the Heart, which according to Paulus Jovius,^ (a high authority on " Imprese") ought to be the soul of the de\dce, to the two hands joined in the interior of the ' Froissart, Vol. I. p. 28, 29. History of Scotland, Vol. I. p. 359, Second Edition. "" Douglas' Peerage, under Lennox and Douglas. ; ^ " II motto, che e I'anima del Corpo " Dialogo dell' Impresse, p. 9. 12 winged heart, and to the four allegorical figures which support the whole. These emblems must be taken together. They seem to denote first, by the clasped hands, placed within the heart, and the verses WHAT WE RESOLVE DEATH, [alone] SHALL DISSOLVE, a stedfast resolution, an afi^ectionate and united pur- pose, and secondly by the Motto round the exterior WHO HOPES STILL CONSTANTLY WITH PATIENCE SHALL OBTAIN VICTORY IN THEIR CLAIM, a hidden claim to some dignity or right which Truth, Patience, and Hope are to crown with Victory : Now looking into the lives of Mathew Stewart Earl of Lennox and his Countess, there undoubtedly is to be found such a resolution, and such a claim. Their son was Lord Henry Darnley, and the great puqiose or resolution, which ran through their hves, in which they cordially united, for which they suffered imprisonment in the Tower, which they were often compelled to abandon, and yet always resumed, till they at last succeeded, was the marriage of this son to Mary Queen 13 of Scots. This unfortunate young nobleman, who was acknowledged by Queen Elizabeth as first prince of the blood,' was murdered by Bothwell in 1567, but he left a son as is well known, James VI. of Scotland, in whose person the claims of his mother Queen Mary, and of his father Lord Damley, combined. The claim of Mary to the English CroT\Ti, failing Queen Elizabeth, arose through her father James V. who was the son of James IV. and the Lady Margaret Tudor, afterwards the wife of the Earl of Angus, and this title was at last in 1603 acknowledged by Elizabeth, when, on her death bed, she, by a sign not to be mistaken, de- clared James her successor, putting her hand to her head when his name was mentioned by Cecil." The ' In 1564, Sir James Melvil saw Lord Damley bear the sword of honour before the Queen when she made Lord Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester—" he," says Melvil, " sitting on his knees before hir, keping a great gi-avity and discreet behaviour, but she could not refrain from putting her hand in his neck to kittle (tickle) him smilingly, the French Ambassador and I standing beside her." Me- moirs of Sir James Melvil, Edit. Bann. p. 120. " Edward VI., Mary and Ehzabeth. Turner, p. 701. 14 open assertion of any such pretension in 1576, or 1577^ the period when this Jewel was probably made, would have been the certain way to defeat it, for even to whisper the word claim or succession to Elizabeth, in her palmy days, was not unlikely to be followed by a visit to the Tower, a domicil with which Lady Lennox was disagreeably acquainted ; but this neces- sity for silence, only made the Earl of Lennox, and his Countess cherish their hope, and look to their grand- son's right more fondly, and whilst they took care not to irritate, they always addressed her as James' near kinswoman, and surest protector. On the death of their son Lord Darnley, their first thought was to write to Elizabeth, and recommend to her, the preser- vation of their grandson the King " the little innocent, her poor orphan and kinsman."' In 1571, on the death of the Regent Murray, Lennox was appointed his suc- cessor, chiefly by the influence of the English Queen, that he might maintain the government of his grand- Haynes' Papers, p. 177. 15 son against his opponents, who mshed to restore Mary ; and when in 1572, Lennox was himself slain at Stirling, his last words were an affectionate enquiiy after the safety of the young king, and a tender message to his wife. " If the bairns' weel, alls weel," said the dying Regent and, tmTiing to the nobles round his bed, " mind me, my lords, to my poor wife Meg." 2 Thus, with a perfect adherence to the facts, it may be truly said, that the resolution of these two united hearts to maintain the claim of their grandson, was only dissolved by death, and what could be more natural, than that the widowed Countess of Lennox, should cause a Jewel to be made to the memory of this affectionate husband, and fondly and secretly allude to this resolution, for which they had suffered so much, and this claim which she still hoped one day to see cro^\^led with success ? Wliat could be more natural than that, in the spirit and usages of these times, which ' Bairn, babe.—MS. State Paper Office, Drury to Burghley, 10th September, 1571, Spottiswood, p. 257. " Spottiswood, p. 257. 16 were much given to emblems, anagrams and conceits, she should employ these devices and mottos to convey to the young King, an affectionate advice, inculcating the necessity of patience and prudence to the attain- ment of his right ? The verse round the Heart, and the figures of Faith, Hope, Truth and Victoiy are thus highly emphatic, and seem to say, be religious, and patient, live in hope, and your claim which is founded in truth, will ultimately be victorious : QUHA HOPIS STIL CONSTANLY WITH PATIENCE SAL OSTEIN VICTORIE IN THEIR PRETENCE. Turning now to the reverse of the Heart, we shall find, I think, that the meaning of its nine em- blems is discoverable, if we keep in view the leading idea, running through the emblems in the front of the Jewel. On this reverse, there are represented the Sun and Moon, the Salamander crowned, already alluded to, the Pelican, the Phoenix and the recumbent figure wdth the Sun-flower growing out of his side, which devices are surrounded by a verse put into the mouth of some unknown person, declaring that he or she may 17 compare their state to these emblems, for the instruc- tion of some one, who is endowed with rare gifts or virtues : MY STATE TO THESE, I MAY COMPARE, FOR YOU, WHO ARE OF BONTES RARE. There seems to be here little doubt, that this verse is put into the mouths of the Earl of Lennox and his Countess, and meant to be addressed by them to their grandson, the young King of Scots. The em- blems express great aflfection and severe trials. The Pelican feeding its little ones, with its own blood, points not only to the mother's intense tenderness, but to the affection of her husband the Regent, who shed his blood in supporting the government of his grand- son. The Salamander, the Douglas crest, crowned and lying unconsumed in the midst of its flames, denotes, very vividly, the fiery afiiictions through which this noble lady passed : nor were these ideal sorrows : she survived eight children, her whole family : she was thrice sent to the Tower, she lived to see her son murdered, and her husband slain. But 18 the most curious device of all, and which goes far to fix the history and meaning of this beautiful relic of ancient times, is the recumbent figure on the grass, with the emblem in his side and the sun-flower grow- ing out of it, which seems to me, intended to represent the unfortunate Damley. He was not in his own right a king, though he received the royal title after his mar- riage,' but a king sprang from him, and the Crown, as I have interpreted the little figure, placed not on his head, but in his side, expresses this, whilst the Sun-flower growing out of the Crown equally clearly denotes a royal scion—his son King James VI. The figures immediately above, the Sun in his glory, and the Phoenix are both, I think, emblems of Queen Eli- zabeth, and taken in connection with the Sun-flower, intended to convey a lesson to the King. As to the Phoenix we may speak with certainty, for this fabled bird, the type of perfection and immortality, was the device adopted by this great princess herself, as may ' Keith, Hist, of Scotland, p. 307. 19 be seen in a beautiful, illuminated ancient manuscript in the British Museum, the work of W. Segar, Garter King at Arms to James I., and presented by him to this monarch : Queen Elizabeth says this author, bore for her device a Phoenix burning, with the words Sem- per Eadem, being a type or figure of her Princely self, for of her sex she was the only Phoenix.' Nor is there much less certainty as to the Sun being emblematic of the same Princess, for we find this device put by old writers on " Imprese " to denote any great " or puissant monarch. Thus in the " Illustre Imprese of Ruscelli, p. 177. the Sun is used, he thinks, for Charles V., and the emblem of a plant or stalk of grass turning to the Sun, for the Marquis of San Lucito. " Col sole " says Ruscelli, " egli per aventura volesse inten- dere I'lmperator Carlo Quinto, suo Signore ; e per I'erba, intender se stesso, H quale stando nell abondan- tissimo fiume delle gratie di S. Maesta, avesse sempre ' MSS. Harleian 6085. Variation of tlie arms and badges of the Kings of England. 20 intenti, gli occlii, e'l pensiero, a contemplar la, e a se- guir la, comunque possa." ' And here it is curious, and satisfactory, that this sentence of Ruscelli, expla- natory of these emblems, the Sun and the plant, ex- presses the very feelings of devotion and respectful affection, which the Regent Lennox and his Countess always inculcated on their grandson, as proper to be entertained towards Elizabeth, whom, to use their own words, they considered, under God, the being " upon whom the preservation and weal of him and his Realm did only depend.* Indeed it is historically certain, that from first to last Lennox considered the wel- fare of his government, and the preservation of the King, as dependent upon the friendship and support of England. On assuming the regency in 1570, he " thus wrote to Lord Burghley : The Queens Majestys advice anent ^ the establishment of the regiment of this ' Illustre Imprese, p. 177. ^ Supplication to the Queens Majesty by the Earl of Lenox and the Lady Margaret his wife. Haynes. State Papers, p. 577. ^ Anent, Scots, regarding. 21 Realm, being reported to the nobility and states, was ' to us right comfortable : And altho the burden quhilk is laid on my shoulders is weighty and dangerous, yet could I not refuse it, in respect of his preservation, that is so dear to me : Whereunto I am the more encouraged, and the less fear all perils, by reason of her Majestys gracious advice given." ^ This is only one of many proofs which might be given, of these feelings in the Regent Lennox, and his Countess ; and perhaps it would be difficult to find a device by which they could have been more significantly expressed than that here adopted : The lesser emblems, the Moon opposite the Sun, and the little bird sitting on the Laurel branch, placed behind the recumbent figure, and looking directly to the Sun and the Phoenix, seem indicative of the same idea, instructing the young King that the Queen of England must be to him what the Sun is to the Moon, and the Phoenix to the birds, the ' Quhilk, which. " MS. letter ia Her Majesty's State Paper Office. Scottish Cor- respondence, 20 July, 1570. Regent Lennox to Lord Burghley. 22 source from which his best hght and glory must be de-- rived, and the type of perfection. As to the minute creature hke a lizard in the branches of the Sun-flower I must confess myself much at a loss.' There remain still the devices in the interior of the Heart ; a third class of emblems, which from the place where we find them, in the inmost recess of the Jewel, in its " heart of hearts," may be concluded to belong to the more secret parts of this biography. Here then it is only natural to expect some obscu- rity—and yet a key to these devices may, I think, be found in some of the incidents in the lives of the Regent Lennox and his Countess. The group of the two Warriors, the one lying at the mercy of the other, seems to allude to that anec- dote connected with the death of Lennox, which has been already noticed. Lennox is seen lying on the ground, mortally wounded by his enemy, but pointing ' Another emblem, the Hunting Horn, is equally dark. I cannot find it either in the arms of Lennox or Douglas, or used in any book of Imprese, in a sense applicable to the Jewel. 23 with his finger to the httle crown' d shield, with a face in it, (an emblem of the young King) as if he were saying, " If the Babe is well, all is well." These we know were nearly liis last words, uttered when he was fainting from loss of blood, and Archbishop Spottis- wood, who gives the story, adds, that when informed that his wound was mortal, he called the nobles to his bed side, and in a few feeble words recommended the infant King to Almighty God, and their care, in- treating them to defend his crown, and assuring them of victory.' The crown'd Warrior seizing a female figure by the hair, is another part of the same group, and may indicate the temporary triumph of the Scottish Queen's party, over the fortunes of the Countess of Lennox, and the young King. This party, whose object it was to restore Queen Mary to the throne, which she had been ' Spottiswood Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 257. " He was," says this historian, " for manly courage and other virtues as well of body as mind inferior to none of his time." He was buried in the Chapel of the Castle of Stirling. 24 compelled to abdicate in favour of her son, undoubt- edly used their triumph, wth no sparing hand, forfeit- ing and imprisoning their opponents, and driving them into beggary and exile, and the figure of the lady dragged by the hair, at the mercy of her enemy, is not too strong an emblem of the ruin which for a time fell on the noble house of Lennox on the death of the Regent. We come now to the last group, in the last leaf of this mystic little book ; the Stake surrounded by flames, the lady, liberated, seated on a chair of state or throne, and the emblems of Time and Truth ; — and here the Stake, such as is represented in the pictures of the martyrs, is undoubtedly an emblem of rehgious persecution — an emblem, unhappily, which in those dark days, when toleration was httle practised, might be indiscriminately used by both parties. Now it is certain, though a fact not commonly known, that Lady Lennox was at one time reputed a Roman Catholic, and as such became an object of suspicion and persecution to Queen Elizabeth. In 25 1594, when she and her husband were anxious to bring about their son's marriage to Mary, Randolpli, the Enghsh Ambassador in Scotland, not only repre- sented the Countess of Lennox as a Roman Catholic, and her son and husband, Darnley and Lennox, of the same religion, but reminded Sir William Cecil, in one of his letters, of the extraordinary influence which Lady Lennox had exercised over the late Queen Mary. " To " think," said he, " that my Lord Darnley should marry " this queen, and his motlier bear that stroke with " her, that she bore with Queen Mary, which she is " like to do, as you can conjecture the causes why would " alienate as many minds from the Queens Majesty, " my sovereign, by sending home as great a plague " into this Country, as that, which to her great honor, " and perpetual love of the godly, she drove out of the " same, when the French were forced to retire them- " selves." ' Next day, Randolph in writing to Cecil, expressed his vehement suspicion of Lennox's religion. ' Extract from a MS. letter, Scottish Correspondence, State Paper Office, 14th Dec. 1564. Randolph to Sir William Cecil. 26 and in a deliberation of the English Privy Council held at the time, it was asserted, that one great object of Lady Lennox and her husband, in desiring a mar- riage between Mary Q,ueen of Scots, and their son, was to re-establish the religion of Rome, and that " the Crisis was much to be dreaded, as in every " comer of the Realm, the Roman Catholics, and the " faction which favoured the Scottish Queen's title to " the throne of England, was grown bold and stout." ' So vehement was this suspicion of Lady Lennox's Roman Catholic predilections, and ambitious intrigues, that in 1505 Elizabeth sent her to the Tower, where she remained a prisoner till the murder of her son.° The emblem, therefore, of the Stake, indicating the sufferings she endured from religious persecution, is not inappropriate. ' MS. letter in Her Maj. Collect. St. P. Office, Scottish Corres- pondence, loth Dec. 1564. Randolph to Cecil. Also orig-inal Draft of the Deliberation of the Pri^'y Council 4th June 1565, in the handwriting of Lord Burghley ; — in the same collection. '' Keith, p. 290. And Strype's Annals of the Reformation, vol. 1, Part 2, pp. 203, 206. 27 But these were not all the sorrows of this noble lady. She was bitterly attacked by falsehood on ano- ther ground—her legitimacy —and whilst the Queen of England and her ministers Cecil and Randolph outwardly treated her with much honour, a private attempt was made against her legitimacy, by endea- vouring to show that the Earl of Angus had another wife alive, at the time he manied the Queen Dowager of Scotland. This piece of secret history is proved by a paper preserved at Hatfield, and endorsed in Lord Burghley's hand, entitled an examination of Alexander Pringle concerning the illegitimacy of the Lady Margaret Lennox,' and Randolph in a letter to Queen Elizabeth alludes to the same attempt, insinuating that its success would cut her out not only of all claim to the Earldom of Angus, but to a greater title which she pretendeth, nearer to her Majesty's self,' meaning evidently her Royal claims as a Grandaughter of Henry VIL " 1 Haynes, St. Papers, pp. 381-382. Randolph to Queen Elizabeth, Nov. 7, 1564. MS. letter St. P. Off. Scottish Corresp. 28 Tliese minuter points in the life of the Countess of Lennox, appear to offer a Key, to the comphcated em- blems in the group of Time and Truth. Her being slandered as illegitimate and threatened with the loss of her honours, her birthright, and royal descent, is in- dicated by the hideous jaws, vomiting out fire and little demons, lies, proceeding from the fountain, and father of lies ; whilst Time the great instructor, he who " causes all to learn," pulling Truth out of the well, marks the triumph of truth in the estabhshment of her legitimacy : The celestial sphere, with the inscription above it " ZE SEIM AL MY PLESUR," YOU SEEM ALL MY PLEASURE, may allude to the bright influences which seemed to reign over her birth and early days — her education at the Court of Henry VHI., her happy marriage, her being the friend and confidant of her sovereign, Queen Mary of England ; but these were succeeded by her becoming, under Elizabeth, the \'ictim of falsehood, persecution and dissimulation, and this temporary : 29 triumph of the powers of evil over the celestial influences, is represented, ingeniously, by the double face of Time,' and by half his body, being in the shape of a demon, whose cloven hoofs, are resting on the celestial sphere, and checking its heavenly motions last of all, the figure of the lady on her chair or throne, is part of the same group, and points to the same story : She is now no longer at the mercy of her enemy, no longer in the miserable state in which she appears in the group below, dragged by the hair, wTetched and discrowned : She has regained her li- berty, her honours are restored, her diadem sparkles on her brow, and she proclaims her release : GAR TEL MY RELAES : ' From this examination, it appears that this curious and ancient Jewel, contains internal evidence, that it was made for Margaret, Countess of Lennox, in me- mory of her husband, the Regent, as a present to ' In Henrv Peacham's " Minerva Brilanna, or Garden of Heroical Devices," we find an Emblem in wliich two faces are employed to mark Dissimulation, p. 197. 30 her royal grandson the King of Scots ; and it is curious, that, in the spirit of these old days, which delighted in concetti and plays on words, the three inscriptions in the interior of the heart seem to be Anngrammatic, and may be transposed so as to in- clude the name of the Countess, the name of her husband, and that of Glueen Elizabeth : Thus TYM GARES AL LEIR will read, if transposed, MARGARET IS LEIL " Margaret is true " and affectionate, the old Scottish word leil, including both love and truth : The second inscription GAR TEL MY RELAES, will read transposed, MAT : S. L. YE. REAL : REG : or Matthew Stewart Lennox ; the Royal Regent. And lastly the Motto ZE. SEIM. AL. MY. PLESUR. may be transposed into this Anagram MY. P. S. ELIZA RULES ME. 31 My Princess Eliza rules me, involving a compliment to Queen Elizabeth, to whom the Countess of Lennox was reconciled before her death, and who honoured her with a royal Funeral, in the Chapel of her Grand- father, Henry VII. at Westminster, where she now lies under a beautiful and elaborate monument. PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. — I. Emblematic Jewels. There are a few Proofs and Illustrations of the " Notes " on this ancient Jewel, which as they would have interrupted the examination of its devices and mottos, it is better to throw together by themselves. In a list of New years Gifts presented by her nobility to Queen Elizabeth, printed in Nichols' Progresses, we find some Jewels of an allegorical and emblematic character, and among them one given by Lady Lennox herself to the Queen. It is thus described: " A Casting bottle of Agate, garnished with gold, " and sparkes of rubies, and a woman holding in her " hand a scroll written with the word Abundantia." Given by the Lady Margaret Lennox. : 36 In the same list, we find a Jewel presented to the Queen by her favourite. Sir Christopher Hatton, with the device of a blind man going over a bridge, led by a dog, garnished with rubies, and certain verses on the back.' In Bannatyne's Memorials, there is an account of a curious Emblematic Jewel, which in 1570 was sent to Queen Mary, and excited the suspicion of Randolph the English Ambassador in Scotland, who despatched an account of it to England. It is thus described " A prettie hart horn, not exceeding in quantity " the palm of a man's hand ; artificially wrought, and " perfected at all points with gold : In the head of it " was curiously engraven the Arms of Scotland : In " the nether part of it was a throne and a gentlewoman " sitting in the same, in her robe royal, with a Crown " upon her head, under her foot was a rose environed " with a Thistle, and under that were two lions, the " one bigger and the other less : The bigger lion held Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 2d. pp. 65. 74. 37 " his paw upon the face of the other, as his lord and " commander. And under all this was written, " fall what may fall, "the lion sal be lord of all. " This Mystery," adds Bannat)Tie, " by very secret " means, came to the knowledge and sight of Mr. " Randolph, who perceiving it touch his Mistress so " near, found the favour of the first revealer, to have " the principal, which, with his letter, he sent to the " Earl of Sussex." ' ' Bannatyne's Memorials. Edition printed by the Bannatvne Club, p. 6.5. 38 II. Portraits illustrative of the Jewel in Her Majesty's Collections. In Her Majesty's Collection at Hampton Court is an ancient family picture, the style and composition of which is worthy of attention, as it affords an additional argument for the Jewel having been made by order of Lady Lennox. The picture in other respects is highly interesting. It was painted (as an inscription in one comer of the canvass informs us) by order of the Earl and Countess of Lennox, for their grandson the King of Scots then only sixteen months old — and the object was, that this Prince might have ever before his eyes, a memorial of the atrocious murder of his father, and an incentive to avenge it. It represents the young King of Scots, praying before the tomb or monument of Darnley, and beside him his Grandfather the Earl of Lennox, Lady Lennox his Grandmother, and his uncle : 39 Charles afterwards Earl of Lennox. All are on their knees, and the story is told in the picture precisely in the same way as in the Jewel, by scrolls coming from the mouths of the different figures containing Latin sen- tences alluding to the subject. Thus on the scroll of the young King is this sentence : " Exurge Domine, et vindica sanguinem innocentem " Patris mei, Meque tua dextera defendas. Rogo." In the scroll of the Earl and Countess : " Exaudi Domine clamorem nostrum, et vindica san- " guinem innocentem Regis Carissimi Filii nostri. Da " Regi Filio suo piam fortunam, vitam longam. Pre- camur. In the scroll coming from the lips of Charles — are these words " Vindica Domine sanguinem Innocentem Regis " Fratris mei. Me Vindictse Tuse instrumentum facias. " Oro." In the comer of the picture, is another little picture enclosed in a fi'ame, on which is an inscription in Latin, informing us that the subject represented is the Queen —— 40 of Scots delivering herself up at Carberry-HUl to the Lords of the King's faction. This smaller picture is painted with such extraordinary minuteness and delicacy, that the banner and family arms of every baron in the field may be distinctly traced. The monument of Damley is placed in front of an altar on which is an image of our Saviour not on the cross, which would have made it a Crucifix, but Jiolding his cross — a minute circum- stance, yet, as it seems to me, full of meaning, indicat- ing the strong Catholic predilections of the family of Lennox—and at the same time their caution not to be publicly reckoned Roman Catholics. Tliere is another little circumstance in the picture which points the same way. In the inscription containing the names of the different persons represented, which is headed, " En subsequentium Heroum Efiigies vivas" the brief account of Henry Damley concludes thus " Cujus Animam Deus suscipiat sibi in Gloriam" a prayer for the soul of the dead, but so cautiously word- ed that it was not likely to give ofi"ence. It was a shade of the same feeling which made Sir William Cecil, who 41 was a puritan in religion, so far accommodate himself to the times under Mary of England, as to A^Tite when speaking of a deceased friend, " whose soul may God " bless." In the Collection at Hampton Court there is a picture of the three children of Henry VH., Prince Arthur, Avho died young. Prince Henry, afterguards Henry VHI. and Princess Margaret, afterwards Queen of Scotland, and mother of the Countess of Lennox. It is an original of the time, and in good preservation. 42 III. Anagrams. The anagrams in the Notes, may at first sight ap- pear too remote and conjectural to have been intended, but examples of such transpositions, quite as fanciful and far fetched in their application, may be found elsewhere. — For instance. In some extracts given in the " Restituta" of Sir Egerton Bridges, (Vol. iv. p. 105.) from a rare book " entitled " Fames Roule by Mary Fage, we have a variety of Anagrams on the names of the English No- bility of the day. Thus, To the Right Hon•"^ John Digby, Earl of Bristol and Baron Digby. John Dygby. Anagramma. By Hy. Gideon. — 43 In sacred stories we recorded finde, Of Gideon poore, also in humble minde How God rais'd him, and set him up on hy Newly his Israel to save thereby. — &c. &c. Thus again, we have To the Right Hon*'^ MUdmay Fane, Earl of Westmoreland. Mildmay Fane. Anagramma. If a Mildeman. Mildeman if you indeed be. Noble Sir, Yield then a courteous smiling glance on her Led by the Muses, that doth here present you Duty obsequious, let it then content you Mildeman to be, &c. &c. In the same work, there is an Anagram addressed to The Right Hon^'^ Edward, Viscount Wimbledon, Baron Cecil, &c. Edwarde Cecill. Anagramma. Civel, craved. Led. 44 and some verses on civility, cra\'ing and leading. Another addressed to The Right Hon'"^ Robert Earl of Ancram. Robert Car. Anagramma. Orb. Tracer. And lastly an anagram addressed to The Right Hon'''^ Roger Lord Boyle Baron of Broghill, with this very equivocal compliment. Roger Boyle. Anagramma. Erly. Bore. Go. Rare honom'ed Youth, that in your Youth so soon O like a tender plant so well doth bloom. Growing in early tender age to bear, &c. In Peacham's " Minerva Britanna " there are many Examples of Anagrams. Thus p. 19. To the Right Hon'"^ Robert Earl of Salisbury, &c. Robertus Caecilius. Anagram. 7s ccelebs : Urit Cura. 45 The Device a Phoenix.—Again, p. 23. Peacham ad- dresses some CompUmentary verses to Lord Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton. Henricus Howardus Comes Northamptoniensis. Anagram. Pius Castus hide mentis honor Mere honorandiis. Another, p. 17. to Prince Henry. Henricus Wallise Princeps, Par Achillis : Puer Une vinces. One of the best anagrams given by Peacham is the composition of Mr. William Fowler, Secretary to Anne of Denmark Queen of James I. and author of a col- lection of Sonnets, entitled the " Tarantula of Love." He was connected in some way with the Lennox family, and probably the son of Thomas Fowler, one of the Executors of Margaret, Countess of Lennox. (Holinshed, vol. 5. p. 574.) It is on the name of Anne of Denmark. Anna Britannonim Regina. /« Anna Regnantitmi Arbor. 46 In the Notes I have given the Anagrams which may- be formed out of the three Scottish Inscriptions, taken separately. But throwing all the letters which com- pose them into one mass, we can construct out of them these Anagrams. MARGARET. L. ^ > YS LELE. mat(h)eu. S. L. J lAMES. R. MY. PLEZYR. ELISA. REG. The conjectured anagram above would be, if mo- dernized and written at length, Margaret Lennox ~) > is loyal. Matheu Steuart Lennox J James Rex my Pleasure. Elisa (betha) Reg (ina). 47 IV. Monument of the Countess of Lennox in Henry the VIIth's Chapel, Westminster. A description and engraving of the Monument of the Countess of Lennox, will be found in Sandford's Genealogical History of the Kings of England, p. 525. On the North side of the Tomb her high descent and Royal connections are thus recounted. This Lady had to her great Grandfather K. Edward the 4th. To her Grandfather K. Henry the 7th. To her Uncle K. Henry the 8th. To her Cousin German K. Edward the 6th. To her brother K. James of Scotland the 5th. To her Son King Henry' the First. To her Grandchild King James the 6th. Having to her great Grandmother, and Grandmother two Queens both named Elizabeth. To her Mother ' Damley. 48 Margaret Ciueen of Scots. To her Aunt Marie the French Queen. To her Cousins German Marie and Ehzabeth, Queens of England. To her Niece and Daughter in law, Mary Queen of Scots. 49 V. The following letter was written by the Earl of Lennox in 1565, to his Countess who was then a prisoner in the Tower. My swet Mage. After my most harty Comendacions — If ye shuld take unkyndly my slownes in wryttynge to you all thys whyll, as I can not blame you to doo, God and thys Berrar,' our owld servant Fowler, can baist^ wytnes th'occasyone tlierof ; it beyng not a lyttyl to my grefe now to be debarred, and want the Commodety and comfort of intellegens by lettyrs, that we war wont to have pass)rnge between us durynge our Absens : But what then ? God send us pacyens in takynge all Thyngs accordingly, and send us a comfortable Met- tynge,^ and then we shall talk farther of the matter. ' Bearer. ^ best. ^ Meeting. 50 My Mage, we have to give God most harty thanks for that the Kyng our Son continews in good helth and lykynge, and the Quene great with child : God save them all ; for the wyche, we have great caus to rejeys' mair : Yet of my part, I must confess I want and fynde a lake^ of my chefest Comfort, wyche is you ; whom I have no caus to forget for any great fellysety or Welthe that I am in ; but I trust it wyll amende. Altho' I doo not dowt, but there Majesties forgetethe you not, yet I am still remembryng them for your dylly\'erans, to worke therein as muche as they can, as I dowt not but there Majestys Avyll, els, er ^ ye shuld tarry there any longer, I shall Myshe of God that I may bee with you, ^ our lyfe beynge sayf : Thys, beyng forset to make no longar Letter for want of tyme, as thys Berrar knowithe, who wyll declare unto you all thyngs at more lyngthe ; beynge most sorry of hys departying owt of the Kynge hys Majesties servece for syndry respects, I byd myn own swet Mage most hartylly fayrw^ell, bessychyng " 1 rejoice. " " lack or want. ^ before. * Thus being forced. 51 Almychty God to presarve you in helthe, longe lyf, and send us with our chyldren a mery mettynge. From Glasgow the 1 9 day of Desembar Your own Mathiw, and most lovynge Hysband. To my Wyf, my Lady Margaret.' Haynes, p. 443. \, VI. There are in the State Paper Office three original letters of the Countess of Lennox which seem worthy of notice. One written in 1548 (old style). Another in 1565 from the Tower. A third to her nephew Lord Ruthven in 1576, written soon after the death of her son Charles, Earl of Lennox, father of the Lady Arabella Stewart. The first letter of 1548 is addressed to her Father, the Earl of Angus, in a tone of proud remonstrance, scarcely becoming a daughter to a parent : Angus had been greatly irritated by the calamitous defeat at Pinkie Field—the invasion of Scotland by his son in law Len- nox and Lord Wharton, and the injudicious and intem- perate course pursued by the Protector Somerset, who imagined that he could compel the Scots, by force of arms, to consent to a marriage between Edward VL and the young Queen of Scotland : In this temper, and 53 smarting under such provocation, it was scarcely to be expected that Angus should have consented to an amicable meeting with Lennox, who in conjunction with his Enghsh alhes, had wasted the Country with fire and sword. Yet it is this refusal which rouses the wrath of his daughter. The Countess of Lennox TO THE Earl of Angus. My Lord. After my humble Commendacions and des}Tmg of your blessing. This shal be to signeffye imto yow the great unnaturallnes, which ye show me daylye, being too long to reherse in all poynts ; butt in some I wyll declare. Now, laste of all, my Lorde' being nere yow, and so desyrous to have spoken vdth Wherein ye yow, yet ye refused it ; and wolde not. showed your self not to be so loving as ye ought to be. ' The Earl of Lennox. 54 or ells so unstable, that every bodye maye tume yow. For d)rverse tymes, ye have said yow wolde be glad, to speyke with your son my Lorde. Remember, he hathe mary'd your owne daughter, and the best chylde to yow that ever ye had, if ye call to remembrance your being here in Englande ; howbeit your dedyes" showethe the forgetfulnes thereof, in so myche as ye ar so contrary to the Kyngs Majesties affayres that now ys, his father being so goode and so lyberall a prynce to yow, whiche ought never to be forgotton. But now my Lorde, I here say that ye have profest, ney\ir to agree with Englande, for so myche as the mooste parte of your frends ar slayne, butt whome can yow blame for that but only youre selfe-wylls —for if ye wolde agre to this godly maryage" there nedyd no Christen blode to be shed : For God's sake remember yourselfe nowe in your olde age, and seke^ to have an honorable pease,* wyche cannot be withoute this maryage, and what a memoryall ' Actions. - The projected marriage between Edward VI. and the Queen of Scots. 3 Seek. » Peace. 55 shulde yt be to yow for ever, if ye colde be an instru- ment for yt. If I shulde wryte so longe a letter as I colde fynde matter, with the wronge of your parte, and the right of myne, hit were to tedyous' for yow to rede ; but for as myche as I purpose, God wyllyng, to come to Carlyll shortly after Ester, I wyll kepe it in store to tell yow myselfe, for I am sure ye wyll not refuse comyng to me, although my uncle George,^ and the larde of Drumlaneryk^ speyke agayst it, whome I knowe wolde be glad to se yow in your grave : Althowe they flatter yow to your face ; My uncle George hathe said as dyv'erse Skottsmen have tolde me, that thowe yow had sones he wold be eyre,'' and make them all illegytimate but my lorde if God sende yow no moo^ sones, and I \ySe after yow, he shall have leste^ parte thereof or ells many a man shall smarte for it. Thys' leivjdng, to ' Too tedious. - Sii- George Douglas of Pittendreich, brother to Angus and father of the Regent Morton. 3 Laird of Drumlanrig. 4 Heir. ^ More. "^ Least. 7 Thus. 56 declare forther of my mynde, tell I may speyke with yow myselfe, I commytte yow to the kepyng of Al- mychty God, who sende yow longe lyff with myche honor : From the Kynges Majesties Castle of Wreyssell the 1 5th day of marche By your humble doughter Margrett Lennox. Endorsed. 15 March 1.548. From Margrett Lennox To her Father in Scotland. Lady Lennox to the Lord Chamberlain and Sir William Cecil. From the Tower 23 July, 1565. I have ernestly desyerid the Levetenant,' that I myght -wryi to thowse, that furst I was comyt)i;* to in Lieutenant. " Committed ; 57 my trobyll, who with mech aclow and parswasyone hath geven me leve : I besych yow my Lord Chamberlayen, and yow Mester Sekretyry, to be menesi to the Quens Majestie, not to contenew thys my hevy lady," havyng not deservyd yt : Indyd, my gretest inpresenment ys her Hyghnes dyspleisuer; and ther it not lakyng as strayt keping and lokyng to, as yf tlie cavvse whar' at hand : Yow botli ar fathers ; Conseder thene, in Gods cause, what I suffer besyds, as not hyryng from my husband, and sone, ther : nor yet from my chyld, beying in Yorkshyer, fameley, nor ofesers, fakying wliarwith to by* my nesesserys, and to pay sum part of the gret dett, that I am in, by many occasyuns thys yeres past, as seldome beying suferd to be at home wharby I spent, and got letyll : Yet of tliat I never complaynd, so long as I had my prences faver, wych God inspyere her hart I may have agene ; besychyng yow to be petycheners therfor : Thys, I sese* to trobyll yow farther at thys tyme— save with my harty Corn- Means or mediators. ' Heavy Lady. ^ Were " To buy. * Thus I cease. 58 endashyons comytyng yow both to the Kepyng of Allmychty God : From the Tower the xxiii of Jully. Your frend to her power Margaret Lennox and Anguse. To the Rycht Hon"". My Lord Chamberlayn and Sir Wyllam Cycell Knight chef Sekretory to the Quenes Majesty. Lady Lennox to Lord Ruthven. The mother of Wilham Fourth Lord Ruthven, to whom this letter is addressed, was the Lady Janet Douglas natural daughter of the Earl of Angus, Lady Lennox's father. He was created Earl of Gowrie in 1581, and executed for high treason in May 1584. My very good Lorde and Nephew. I have receyved your most natural and frendly letter, which showeth 59 to me, yow fail not your frencl for no adversity. I take no small comfort at your frendly remembrance of me at this tyme : And specyallie to here of my swete luell the Kings Majestic, who the AUmyhtye preserve : This is the firste that I have written to any, sence my sonnes deathe, for I have small care of wordly matters. Yet have I byn persuaded by some frends here, or now,' to have sent to some frend of myne there, to know how the state standeth of the Earledom of Len- nox, because my sonne hathe lefte a doughter behynde him. And havinge my most specyall truste in your Lordship, theis ar to desyare the same, advertice- ment from yow so sone as ye may, whether his doughter be herj^table to the Lande or not ; and what your advyce is for me to doo, I will follow (God will- inge) and tyll I have receyred the same, I wyll not wrighte to the Regent nor other there : Alwayes for my owne parte, my Lorde, my husband made good assurance to me in Dowre, for the moste parte of the lands of Lennox, and Darneley. I praye yow also. ' Or now, —before now. 60 procure and sencle me, a perfyte pedegree of the dis- cente of the Earles of Lennox, fi'om the firstc of the house, with armes and matches in maryage ; for that I am aboute a movement which requyres the helpe thereof: Thus being bowlde to trouble you, as him whome in those partes I have my Cheyffeste truste in, I commit yow to Gods Almighty protectyon. Hackney this 24 ApriU 1576. Your Lordshipps most assured Lovinge Ante and frend' Endorsed. The Coppy of Her Graces Letter to the LORDE RUTHEN. St. P. Office. Scottish Correspondence. Lord Ruthen was in 1577, Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. ' Tliis letter which is not signed, is copied from a contemporary transcript in the State Paper Office. It bears internal evidence that it was written bv the Countess of Lennox. — 61 VII. Lady Lennox's Will. Some of those little touches which give individuaUty to character, may be found in the following curious — document ^the Will of the Countess of Lennox ; which has never before been printed. We learn from it, that previous to her death, she had ordered her own Monu- ment and made a bargain for its being set up in the great Church at Westminster, and her affection to her late son Charles is shown by her directions for the removal of his body from its place of burial at Hackney, to be laid beside her in the vault at Westminster. Her remembrance to her grandson the King of Scots is limited to her new bed of black velvet, and she is amusingly and economically minute in specifying that his Majesty is to find his own bedding for it — and to have nothing but the Curtains, Quilt and Bedstead 62 She is generous to the poor, leaving Forty Pounds in alms on the day of her buriall, and a hundred go\Mis to as many poor women ; nor is she unmindful of her old servants, Wilton and Mompesson. To Thomas Fowler, who had served her long and faithfully, she leaves her whole stock of sheep, amounting to eight hun- dred, with the anomalous addition of all her " Clocks, Watches and Dialls " with their furniture. To Lord Burghley, her memorial of friendship and forgiveness, is her Ring with four Diamonds, set square therein in black Enamel.—To the Earl of Leicester she gives her Pomander chain with a Tablet, in which is a picture of her Nephew, King Henry the Eighth. All the rest of her property including jewels, chattels, and furniture is left to her unfortunate grandaughter the Lady Arbell — Lady Arabella Stewart, whose royal descent entaUed upon her as great a misery, under James, as it had brought to Lady Lennox herself under Elizabeth. The Will which has been copied from the Original Registry in the Prerogative Court of Canter- bury is as follows : — 63 In the Name of God Amen. I Margaret Countesse of Lennox Widowe, late Wief of Mathewe Erie of Lennox, Regent of Scot- lande deceased, beinge of good and perfects mynde and remembraunce and in good health of Bodie (thankes be to Almightie God) The six and twentieth daye of Fe- bruarie, in the yeare of oiire Lorde God a Thowsande fine hundred seventie and seaven, and in the twentieth yeare of the Reigne of our Sovereigne Ladie Elizabeth, by the grace of God Quene of Englande, Fraunce, and Irelande, Defendor of the faith, &c. Doe make, ordaine and declare this my p'nte' last will and testament in maner and forme followinge : First, I bequeath my Sowle vnto Almightie God, my Savioure and Redeamer, and my bodie to be buried in the greate Churche of Westminster, in the monument. Sepulture, or Tombe alreadie barge5med for, and ap- pointed to be made and sett vppe in the saide Churche. Also, I win that the bodie of my Sonne Charles shalbe removed from the Churche of Hackney, and laide with ' Present. 64 myne both in one Vawte or Tombe in the saide Churche of Westmynster. And I giue, appointe and bequeath, for my buriall and Funeralls, to be bestowed and ym- ployed therevppon, the somme of twehie hundred poundes : als" ' one Thowsande twoo hundred poundes of lawfull money of Englande to be made and furnisshed of my plate, howshouldstuffe and moueables, to be soulde therefore : And I will that Fourtie poundes of the saide Twelue hundred poundes, shalbe giuen and distributed to the poore people at the dale of my buriall, and that there be one hundred gownes furnisshed and giuen, to a hundred poore wommen, at the said Dale of my buriall, to be paide for and furnisshed of the saide somme of Twelue hundred poundes. Also I giue and bequeath to the Kinge of Skotts for a remembraunce of me his Grandmother, my new fielde" bed of blacke vellett, Imbrodered with flowers of neadle worke, with the furniture therevnto belonginge, as Curteins, quilte and bedsteed, but not anie other ^ 1 Also. New_/ie/rfe bed,—an obscure expression. Per- haps it may mean new filled—newly stuffed bed. 65 beddinge there^'Tlto. And the same to be deliued' to the saide Kinge, within six monethes after my decease, yf God shall graunt him then to be lyvinge. Alsoe I giue and bequeath to Margareet Wilton my womman (yf she be with me in S'vice at the time of my death) the somme of Fiftie poundes of lawful! money. And to euie other S'unte" of m)rne (aswell wommen as men) that at the time of my decease shall be in my S'uice ordinarie, one yeares M^ages accordinge to the rate of theire intertainement they then haue of me yearelie. Also I giue and bequeath to olde MATiipesson my S'vaunte, (yf then at my death he shalbe ly^ange) Twentie poundes of lawful! money : All and eu'rie which sommes, I will to be made, raised, paide and satisfied of my howshoulde stuife, within anie my howses where- soeur, to be soulde therefore mthin one year next after my buriall and Funeralls performed as aforesaide. Alsoe I giue and bequeath to Thomas Fowler my S"unte, for his good and faithfull S'uice, done to me and myne manye years paste, All and euie my stocke Delivered. " Every other servant. 6G of Sheepe, aswell yonge as olde, of all sortes and kindes, and nowe in the vse and Custodie of Lawrence Nesse- bett, S)rnionde Doddesworth, and Rowland Fothergill, and eu ie or anie of them within, and vppon my Lord- shippe of Settrington, in the Countie of Yorke, being in numbrc eight hundred, at six score to the hundred. And where I owe vnto the saide Thomas Fowler my Servaimt, seaven hundred Threscoare eightenc poundes, and fiftene shillinges, of lawful money of Englande, vppon the determinac~on of his last Accompte made and caste vpp by my Awditor, at my Awditt holden at Mi- chaelmas last paste, which debte I acknowledge to be due and owinge to him by me, I wall, that the same somme of money as my due debte, be paid and satisfied to tlie saide Thomas Fowler, of my goods, Chattells, plate and Jewells. Alsoe, I giue and Ijequeath to the saide Thomas Fowler, all my Clockes, Watches, Dialls, with theire furnitures, and I make, ordeine, will, constitute and appointe, John Kaye of Hackney Esquire, and the saide Thomas Fowler my full and lawfidl Executors. And 67 I giue and bequeath, to the said Jolin Kaye for his paines, Fourtie poMTides to be made of my goods as aforesaid. And I will, ordaine, and provide, my verie good Lordes, William Lorde Burghley, Lorde Treasawrer of Englande, and Roberte Earle of Leicester my Ouseers. And I giue and bequeath to them for their paines, viz. To the saide Lorde Treasaurer my Ring with foure Diamonds sett square therein blacke enamUed. And to the saide Earle of Leycestre my Chaine of Pommaunder beades netted ou" with golde. And my Tablett with the picture of Kinge Henrye the eighte therein. All the reste of my Jewells, goodes, Chattells, moveable and vnmouable, my Fune- ralls and legacies p'formed and my due debts paide, I giue and bequeath to the Ladye Arbell Daughter of my Sonne Charles deceased. Provided alwaies and I will, that where the one of my saide Executors Thomas Fowler, hath for sondrie and diu"se bargaines made for me, and to my vse by my appointment, aucthoritie and requeste, entred into sondrie bandes and Covenauntes of warrantize, in son- 68 drie sorts and kindes, that by lawe he maye be cha- lenged and constrayned to awnsweare and make good the same, he the saide Thomas Fowler my saide Execu- tor shall out of my saide goodes, Chattells, mouables, plate and Jewells whatsoe", be aunsweared, allowed, satisfied, recompenced, and kepte harmeles, from anie losse, recoverie, forfeiture. Actions, sutes, Demaundes, whatsoever, (which) maye be, and shalbe of and from him my saide executors lawfully recovered and ob- teyned, by any parson or p'sonns at anie time or times after my decease. And provided also and I will that the rest and porc"on of my Juells, goodes or mouables whatsoeu" it shall fall out to be, shall remaine in the handes, Cus- todie and kepinge of my saide Executor Thomas Fowler, vntill the saide Ladye Arbell be maried, or come to the age of Fouretene yeares, to be then safelie deliu ed to her, yf god shall sende her then and soe longe to be lyringe. In witnes whereof, and that this is my lawful last will and Testament made and determined advisedlie 69 by good delyberac on and vppon good considerac'ons, I the saide Ladie Margarett, beinge in good and perfecte health and memory, haue putt herevnto my hande and Seale of Armes The Day and yeare aboue expressed and specified, Witnesses to the same theis personnes hereafter subscribinge theire names. Memorandum, that whereas this Will was sealed vpp wth a Labell, and the Seales of D. Hincke and D. Caldwall sett \aito or v-jopon the same Labell, the Eleventh of Marche, 1577, the saide D. Hincke and D. Caldwell were p~nte at the breaking vpp of the same Labell, and did acknowledge the same to be sealed with theire Seales. And that the Testament within written, was before th^m, and others, whose names be endorsed, acknowledged by the within named Ladie Margarett to be her last will and Testament. In the p"nce of me William Drurye, Doctor of the Lawe, and other witnesses vnder written, Robert Hincke, Richarde Caldwell, Robert Boys, N. Paine, Robert — 70 Weldons, Witnesses to this her Gracies last will and Testament, are we whose names be vnderwritten Margery Will'ms John Wolpe Robert Hewicke Lawrence Nessebett Richard Caldwall Will'm Mompesson. 71 VIII. Lady Arabella Stewart. The royal descent of this noble lady brought upon her still deeper sorrows than those it had entailed on her grandmother Lady Lennox.— Q,ueen Elizabeth re- garded her with jealousy, interrupted her mart-iage with Esme Stewart her near kinsman, and broke off a contemplated match wth the Earl of Northumberland —James the First her cousin german who had treated her with kindness before he succeeded to the English throne, after that event entirely changed his conduct and acted towards her with great rigor and injustice. Lodge in his " Illustrations of British history" has stated her birth to have been about the year 1578, and adds, that she was brought up privately under the care of Lady Lennox her grandmother. But Lady Lennox herself died on the 10th of March, 1578, as 72 is proved by the inscription on her monument in Henry Vllth's Chapel, and in -wTiting to Lord Ruthven (as we have above seen) in 1576, very recently after her son Charles' death, she mentions that he had left a daughter. This was the Lady Arabella his only child, and from her infancy she was brought up under the care of her aunt Lady Shrewsbury. She was highly accomplished and of an affectionate and gentle disposition, and after various noble and royal offers, all of them ending in disappointment, she be- came attached to Sir William Seymour son of Lord Beauchamp. They were privately married, but the affair soon became publickly known, Seymour was committed to the Tower, and Arabella to the custody of Sir Thomas Parry at Lambeth. " The great match, (so wTites Sir Dudley Carleton in July 1610 to Sir Ralph Winwood) which was lately stolen betwixt the Lady Arabella and young Beauchamp provides them both safe lodgings" — the Lady close prisoner at Sir Thomas Parry's house at Lambeth, and her husband in the Tower.' Melvil ' Winwood's Memorials, Vol. 3. p. 201. — —— 73 the poetical minister' welcomed him thither with this distich, " Communis tecum mihi causa est Carceris, Ara Bella tibi causa est, Araque sacra mihi." This marriage was regarded by James I. with the greatest jealousy. Sir WUliam Seymour by his descent from Mary youngest daughter of Henry VII. was of the blood royal of England," and in the event of the failure of the King's ovm issue, the children of Se3Tnour and the Lady Arabella, would have been nearest heirs to the throne. Hence the severity of their durance but the separation and imprisonment of the young couple had only continued a year, when with the as- ' Andrew Melvil the celebrated champion of presbyterian principles then a prisoner in the Tower. ' Collins's Peerage, Vol. I. pp. 172, 174.—The Princess Mary daughter of Henry VII. married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Their daughter the Lady Frances, married Henry Grey, Duke of Suifolk. Their daughter Lady Catherine Grey married Edward Sejrmour, Earl of Hertford, eldest son of the Pretender Somerset and this Lady Catherine Grey was mother to Edward Lord Beau- champ — the father of Sir William Seymour. — 74 sistance of Lady Shrewsbury ' they concerted an escape — which is thus hvelily described in a contemporary letter " On Monday last in the afternoon my Lady Ara- bella lying at Mr. Conyers house near Highgate, having induced her keepers and attendants into secu- rity, by the fair show of conformity and willingness to go on her journey towards Durham, (which the next day she must have done) and in the meantime dis- guising herself, by drawing a pair of great French fashion'd hose over her petticoats, putting on a man's doublet, a man-like pemique with long locks over her hair, a black hat, black cloak, russet boots with red tops, and a rapier by her side, walked forth between three and four o' clock, with Mr. Markham. After they had gone a foot, a mile and a half, to a sorry Inn, where Crompton attended with their horses, she grew very sick and faint, so as the ostler that held the stirrup ' MS. letter St. P. Oft". Henry Lord Northampton to James I., June 9th 1611. 75 said, ' That Gentleman would hardly hold out to Lon- don.' — Yet being set on a good gelding, the stirring of the horse brought blood enough into her face, and so she rode on towards Blackwall : where arriving about six o' clock, finding there in a readiness two men, a gentlewoman, and a chambermaid, with one boat full of Mr. Seymour's and her trunks, and another boat for their persons, they hasted from thence towards Wool- wich. Being come so far they bade the watermen row on to Gravesend. There the watermen were desirous to land, but for a double freight were contented to go on to Lee — Yet being almost tired by the way they were fain to ly still at Tilbury, whilst the oars went a land to refresh themselves. Then they pro- ceeded to Lee, and by that time the day appeared, and they discovered a Ship at Anchor a mile beyond them, w^hich was the French Barque that waited for them. Here the Lady w^ould have lyen at Anchor, expecting Mr. Se}Tnour, but thro' the importunity of her fol- lowers they forth-with hoisted sail to seaward. " In the meanwhile Mr. Seymour, wth a Perruque 76 and Beard of black hair, in a tawny cloth suit, walked alone without suspicion from his lodging at the great West door of the Tower, following a Cart that had brought him Billets. From thence he walked along by the Tower Wharf, by the Warders of the South Gate, and so to the Iron Gate, where Rodney was ready with oars to receive him. When they came to Lee and found that the French Ship was gone, the billows rising high they hired a Fisherman for twenty shillings to set them aboard a certain ship that they saw under sail. That ship they found not to be it they looked for, so they made forwards to the next under saU, which was a Ship of Newcastle. This with much ado they hired for forty pounds to carry them to Calais.— But whether the Collier did perform his bargain or no is not yet here known. — On Tuesday in the afternoon my Lord Treasurer being advertised that the Lady Ara- bella had made an escape, sent forthwith to the Lieu- tenant of the Tower to set strait guard over Mr. Seymour, which he after his yare manner ' would thoroughly do, that he would.' But coming to the J 77 Prisoner's lodgings he found (to his great amazement) that he was gone from thence one whole day before. * * * " Now the King and the Lords being much disturbed with this unexpected accident, my Lord Treasurer sent orders to a Pinnace that lay at the Do\atis, to put presently to sea, first to Calais Road and then scour up the coast towards Dunkirk. This Pinnace spying the aforesaid Spanish Barque,' which lay lingering for Mr. Seymour, made to her, which thereupon offered to fly towards Calais, and endured thirteen shot of the Pinnace before she would strike. In this Bark is the Lady taken with her followers, and brought back to the Tower. Not so sorry for her own restraint as she would be glad if Mr. Seymour might escape, whose welfare she protested to affect much more than her own." 2 On her first imprisonment in July 1810, and before ' There is some confusion here. The writer had above called the Ship aboard which the Lady Arabella came, a French Bark. • Winwood's Memorials, Vol. III. pp. 279. 280, 281. 78 being driven to her romantic attempt at escape, the Lady Arabella addressed this pathetic letter to the Privy Council. To THE Right Honorable the Lords of his Majestys most honorable Privy Consaile. Right honorable and my very good Lords I humbly beseech you give me leave to become an humble suitor to you, to let His Majesty understand mv hearty sorrow for his Majesty's displeasure ; And that it will please your Honors, to become intercessors to his Majesty for me, whose errour I assuredly hope. His Majesty of his own gratious disposition, will by your good means rather pardon, than any further ex- piate with imprisonment, or other affliction—Which and more, if it were to do his Majesty service, or honour, I should endure with alacrity : But this is very grievous, especially as a sign of his Majesty's dis- pleasure ; on whose favor all my worldly joy as well as 79 fortune dependeth —which if I may re-obtain, all the course of my life hereafter shall testify my humble and dutiful thankfulness. Arabella Seymaur.' To this appeal the King turned an inexorable ear. It was in vain the unfortunate lady reminded him of his former kind letters assuring her of his favor and protection, and his consent given to bestow herself on any subject of his, in vain that she implored him to explain more fully the cause of her confinement. His only answer was stern and enigmatical. — " She had eaten of the forbidden tree,"^ and when detected after- wards in the act of escaping, in concert with her hus- band, the anger and suspicion of the monarch, made him double the rigor of her confinement. — She was instantly shut up in the Tower, where after four years ' Printed for the tiri^t time from the original preserved in the State Paper Office beautifully written in her own hand. EndorsedJuly 1610. ^ D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature. Vol. IV. p. 278, in an amusing chapter — entitled " The Loves of the Lady Arabella." 80 imprisonment, misery at last weakened her intellect and brought her to an early grave. Her death is thus briefly noticed in a letter of Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carlton " On the 27th (Sep. 1615) that ill fated and persecuted Lady, Arabella Stewart, daughter of Charles Earl of Lennox, cousin german of Henry Darnley, Father of King James, died in the Tower of London. She was enterred at Westminster without any funeral pomp in the night, in the same vault wherein Mary Queen of Scots and Prince Henry were buried.'" How playfully this gentle and accomplished Lady could wTite in the bright days when she used to take her part in Ben Jonson's Masque of Beauty, or acted the " Nymph of Trent in Tethys Festival"" maybe seen from this Extract of one of her letters to Lord Shrews- bury : It was written from the Queen's Court at Fulston. " The Spanish Ambassador invited Madame Beau- Nichols' Progresses of King James the First, Vol. III. p. 100. '' Ibid. Vol. II. pp. 174. — 81 mont the French Ambassadar's Lady to dinner, request- ing her to bring some English ladies with her. She brought my Lady Bedford, Lady Rich, Lady Susan Vere, Lady Dorothy, with her, and great cheer they had. A fortnight after, he invited the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Mar, and divers of that nation requesting them to bring the Scottish ladies, for he was desirous to see some natural beauties. —My Lady Ann Hay, and my Cousin Drummond went, and after a sumptuous dinner were presented first with two pair of Spanish gloves a piece, and after, my cousin Drummond had a diamond Ring of the value of two hundred Crowns given her, and my Lady Anne a gold Chain of little links twice about her neck, sent her. " Yesterday, the Spanish Ambassador, the Florentine, and Madame de Beaumont, took their leave of the Queen till she come to Hampton Court. There is an ambas- sador come from Polonia, and fain he would be gone again, because of the freezing of their Seas but he hath not yet had an audience. —The Venetians lately sent two Ambassadors with letters both to the King and — 82 Queen. * * But out of this confusion of embassages will you know how we spend our time on the Queens side ? Whilst I was at Winchester there were certain child's Plays remembered by the fair Ladies viz. ' I — pray my Lord, give me a course in your Park.' ' Rise, Pig — and go' — 'One Penny follow me' &c. And when I came to Court, they were as highly in request as ever cracking of Nuts was. So I was by the Mistress of the Revels, not only compelled to play at I know not what, (for till that day I never heard of a Play called Fier,) but even persuaded by the Princely Example, to play the child again. This Exercise is mostly used from ten o'clock at night, to two or three in the morn- ing — but that day I made one, it began at Twilight and ended at supper time. There was an Interlude but not so ridiculous (ridiculous as it was) as my letter." Not long after the death of the Lady Arabella, her husband Sir William Seymour, who had effected his escape to the Continent addressed this supplicating letter to King James 83 SIR WILLIAM SEYMOUR TO THE KING. Vouchsafe, dread Sovereign, to cast your merciful eyes upon the most humble and penitent wretch, that youth and ignorance have thrown into transgression, and shut not up your mercy from him, to whom time and riper years have given the true sense and feeling of his errors ; and to whom nothing remains but the hope of your princely mercy, and forgiveness — and that not of merit, but merely out of your royal goodnesse where- unto I most humbly appeale ; acknowledging upon the knees of my heart, the grievous offences of my youth, the which, with the tribute of my life in your Majesties service, I shall ever account most happilie redeemed : Be therefore pleased I most humbly beseech your Sacred Majesty, to take home a lost sheep of yours, whose exile hath been accompanied with many afflic- tions, besides the loss of your Majesties most gracious favor, which hath given a most bitter feeling of all the 84 rest. — Thus, beseeching the Almighty that rules the hearts of Kings, to restore me, I most humbly prostrate myself at your princely feet, heartily praying for the long preservation of your Majesty and your most royal progeny— of whose end may the world never see an end, till she feele her owne. Your Majesties Most loyall subject and servant William Seymaure.' This petition, too piteously languishing and penitent for a brave and honorable man, who had committed no high oflFence, had the desired effect — Seymour was pardoned — permitted to return to England and un- der the unhappy reign of Charles I. clung wth the most devoted affection and loyalty to the fortunes of ' Printed for the first time from the Original — St. P. Off. —The letter is undated, but Mr. R. Lemon of the State Paper Office by a discovery of the answer in the MSS. Books of Privy Council has fixed it to have been written about the 1st January, 1616. ' 85 his royal Master : He lived also to see the Restora- tion and to be himself restored to his Dukedom of Somerset. ' Collins's Peerage, Vol. I. pp. 179, 181. : LONDON WILLIAM NICOL, SHAKSPEARE PRESS, PALL MALL. '-^^ ':^. -^ ^_ •^; ^. W. 'M W. W 'M i^. W. i^. W. 'M W. W. 'A^. W. 'M 'i¥. 'M ^. ^. >••*:*: '^. 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